The Adventures of Natsu and Lucy
by Just A Dreamer9
Summary: It's almost time for the Midsummer Festival in Magnolia and the townsfolk are scrambling to find a certain rare flower to present to that special someone. Natsu and Lucy are tasked with finding a bunch of these flowers on Mt. Hakobe.
1. Chapter 1

"Why is it that every time we go up here that I forget to wear warm clothes?" Lucy asked no one in particular as her and her best friend Natsu the dragon slayer, trekked up the face of the infamous Mt. Hakobe for another mission. The mission was to find and pick a rare type of flower that only grows on top of the mystical mountain and blossoms just before the Midsummer Festival. This flower was said to have beauty that far surpassed any other summer blooming flower and smelled better than anything in the world. The reward was 200,000 jewel so Lucy could pay the rent for this month and still have some to spend on new clothes for the upcoming festival. The wind started to pick up on the god-forsaken mountain and she shivered from the bitter cold.

Hey, Luce. You alright?" Natsu asked her, noticing her shivering and falling behind.

"

Yeah." She breathed. "Just a little cold is all."

"Here. Take my vest. It should warm you up enough to get to the grove." Natsu said shedding his vest and placing it around her shoulders. His hands lingered there for just a second too long and she noticed this. She looked up at him but he quickly removed his hands and walked a few steps ahead of her.

"Thanks Natsu." Lucy said smiling feeling the warmth of his vest. Even though it didn't have any sleeves, it was plenty warm enough to prevent her from freezing. _Natsu sure is a good friend._ Lucy thought smiling to herself. They had finally reached the grove of the legendary Julianus flower.

"These flowers are so beautiful, don't you think Natsu?" Lucy asked almost in a daze. The flowers were every bright and beautiful color imaginable. They were just as beautiful and wondrous as the rainbow colored sakura tree back in town. Natsu couldn't stop looking at her. She just looked so beautiful surrounded by all these incredible flowers.

"Amazing..." He breathed as pink tinted his face.

"Wh-What?" Lucy asked. It wasn't like Natsu to blush. Ever. And it was almost like he wasn't calling the flowers amazing but-

"Nothing. Come on. Let's get this back to town." He said. As they headed back down the mountain, the wind started to get worse and night began to fall on the two of them.

"Natsu, we gotta find a cave or something or we'll freeze to death." Lucy said as she shivered despite the warmth of the vest Natsu gave her.

"Here's a cave. Let's stay here for the night. I saw a tree nearby so we can use that for firewood." Natsu said. Later that night, a fire was steadily burning and the two were huddled by the fire.

"Will the flowers be alright if they are left overnight?" Natsu asked.

"I'm not sure. But even if they aren't, we could just go back and pick some more first thing in the morning before we head back." Lucy replied in a sleepy voice. It was so comfortable huddled up by this small fire. It was so relaxing. She then dozed off and her head lolled onto Natsu's shoulder with a small smile on her face.

"Yeah." He replied resting his head against hers and wrapping an arm around her before dozing off himself.

Morning broke and Natsu opened his eyes. He noticed the fire had gone out and Lucy was still resting her head on his shoulder. The one thing that had changed was Lucy was right up against Natsu and her hand was under his between them. Natsu's eyes grew wide as he saw this. When did that happen? Guess it didn't matter now. This moment was perfect. He rested his head back on top of Lucy's and exhaled. He didn't want this moment to ever end. Just then, Lucy started to open her eyes. Natsu sweat dropped, again wondering how her hand ended up under his, and more importantly, who caused it to. Lucy wiped the sleep out of her eyes with her left hand still groggy.

"Morning." She said with a small smile. She shifted her right hand and felt something on top of it, all her sensory nerves registering again.

"Nat-"

"Oh would you look at that! We need to go get these flowers back to the client!" Natsu interrupted jumping to a standing position. He really did not want to talk about what just happened. He didn't even know how to. Lucy probably didn't like him back anyways and he didn't want things to get weird between them. He busied himself with gathering up their equipment while Lucy just stood there looking at her hand perplexed by what just happened. Realization struck her and she suddenly blushed.

"Natsu I-" She was once again interrupted.

"Crap! The flowers are starting to wilt! We gotta get them back to town! Come on Lucy!" Natsu yelled. He grabbed her by the hand and raced out of the cave with the bags of flowers in one hand and Lucy's wrist in the other. "We don't have time to use the trail to get back down. Aha!" Natsu exclaimed as he punched down a tree.

"I know it'll give me motion sickness but it's the only way to get down the mountain in time. We're going to ride this thing straight down the face of the mountain and all the way into town!" Natsu yelled.

"But why don't we just go back and-"But before she could finish, she found herself sitting on the tree trunk looking down at a particularly steep slope. Natsu pushed the tree sled over the edge and down they went. They made it all the way to the bottom of the mountain and started running to their client. The Julianus flowers were fading fast and needed water immediately. They finally made it to the client, gave him the flowers, and got their reward. As they were walking back from the guild to confirm the job had been completed, Lucy couldn't quit thinking about what had happened in the cave last night and neither could Natsu.

"I need to talk to you about this morning." They both said in unison.

"You first."

"No you."

"You!"

"Stop."

"Stop that!"

"Hahaha!" They both laughed.

"Okay," Lucy said lowering her voice and sounding more serious. Natsu stopped laughing. "Were you holding my hand this morning?"

"No I uh, actually found your hand there." He replied nervously.

"Oh." She said sounding a little disappointed. It felt nice, Natsu holding her hand. She knew that much.

"'Oh?'" Natsu asked, unsure as to why she sounded disappointed.

"It's nothing, Natsu." She replied with a smile. "Also..Natsu?"

"Yeah?" The fire mage asked sensing Lucy was about to say something serious. She moved closer to Natsu and looked into his eyes.

"Natsu I l-" But once again she was cut off.

"Lucy Heartfilia! You have a bounty on your head that I'm gonna collect on!" A dusty looking wizard yelled running his hand through his dirt brown hair. He stepped up to her and reached out to grab her.

"NO!" Lucy yelled in anger landing a rock solid right hook to the mage's jaw sending him flying backwards. "I HAVE SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO SAY AND I'M GONNA SAY IT!" She grabbed one of her golden keys. "GATE OF THE LION! I OPEN THEE! LEO!" She summoned Loke, her most powerful combat spirit.

"What can I do for you today?" Loke asked pushing his glasses up.

"Beat the crap out of that guy!" Lucy ordered. Loke complied and used Regulus Impact on the mage in question.

"As I was saying," Lucy continued as an obviously intimidated Natsu stood with his jaw open.

"Natsu, I like you." Lucy wrapped her arms around him. Natsu suddenly tensed up.

"Look out Lucy!" Natsu shouted. A boulder the size of a house was falling towards them and was about to crush them both. Lucy closed her eyes and fell to the ground. She opened her eyes and blinked. She wasn't crushed. Nor was she injured. She looked up and saw Natsu. He had caught the boulder and was holding it up using his flame elbows as boosters to hold the rock up.

"Lucy, get out of here!" He shouted at her. She ran out from under the boulder and turned back and looked at Natsu. His flames were dying.

"Lucy, I gotta tell you something." He said in a strained voice. He dropped to one knee.

"Natsu no! Get out of there and then tell me!" She couldn't believe this was happening. Tears rolled down her face. "Natsu! Please!" She cried.

"Luce, don't cry." He said in a calm voice. "I want you to know, I love you too. Now go beat this guy." He said with a smile as a solitary tear rolled down his cheek. And with that, his flames died and the rock fell on top of him.

"Natsu.." Lucy breathed in shock. "NATSUUUU!" Lucy cried, a river of tears flooding her face and falling to the ground. Lucy fell to her knees and wept bitterly. She had just confessed to the boy she loved. And he had reciprocated. Suddenly, an anger she had never felt before in her life, one rivaling even that of Natsu's, swelled up inside of her. It was as if Natsu's fire was coursing through her very veins.

"You…YOU DID THIS!" She roared at the earth mage. The earth mage took a step back at the absolutely petrifying look in the celestial spirit mage's eyes. It was a look that meant death and retribution.

"You. Will disappear." Lucy said in a low voice. The foolish earth mage found himself paralyzed in fear as he heard the conviction and truth in these three words. Lucy stood up and began reciting an incantation that she had cast only once before successfully.

"Survey the Heavens, Open the Heavens… All the stars, far and wide… Show me thy appearance… With such shine. Oh Tetrabiblos… I am the ruler of the stars… Aspect become complete… Open thy malevolent gate. O 88 Stars of the heaven… Shine! URANO METRIA!"

As she cast the spell, her eyes glowed purest white, and her body shone like the sun. Magic rained down from the sky like a magnificent meteor shower, beautiful and also deadly. Each hit connecting with the nameless mage's body again and again and again. The spell completed, Lucy was herself again and drained of all her magic power. But instead of feeling better, now that she had her vengeance, she felt cold, alone, and most of all, sad. She had lost her best friend in the world. The one who stayed by her, made her laugh, always made her smile with that cute, wide smile of his. He always came to her rescue when she got kidnapped or got into trouble. He was a hot head and a goof ball, but he was also her best friend. And now he's gone. She looked over to the giant rock that had crushed him and saw his scarf pinned under the very edge of it. She picked it up and wept bitterly again as she held it to her face. She curled up in a ball and cried her eyes out.

The team that went to retrieve Natsu's body could find nothing as to where his body was as there was nothing left to find.

All of Magnolia wept bitterly for him at his memorial service. The rain seemed to pour for days with no end in sight. Her friends tried to cheer her up and get her mind off of it but there was nothing that could be said to ease her aching heart. The Midsummer Festival was that night and she finally decided to get out of her apartment and go to it. She grabbed Natsu's scarf that she had been wearing since the day he died and went out. All of magnolia was there including a few Fairy Tail members. She found a bench and sat down. Functioning these days was so hard for her now that Natsu was gone. She sighed and let her head drop. Natsu loved the Midsummer Festival. It was one of his favorite festivals of the year. She let the tears roll silently down her face. She felt somebody sit down beside her. A tear threatened to fall off her face when a warm finger wiped it away along with the rest of her tears. The hand the finger belonged to lifted her chin up to look at the owner of the hand.

"No more tears, Luce." A familiar, kind, and warm voice whispered in her ear.

"Na-..Na-…Natsu…?" Lucy couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was Natsu.

"It's me Luce." He replied with a smile. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. The rain had finally stopped.

"But I watched you die Natsu.." Lucy said confused.

"Yeah I thought I was about to die too. Luckily though, the earth was soft where I was standing and the heat I generated let it break away when the rock fell on me. I fell into an underground sewer system and got washed out to sea. But, if there's one good thing that has come out of this whole thing," he said pulling out a certain mystical flower. "It's you." He said giving her the legendary flower. She cried but `not out of sorrow, but out of pure and perfect happiness.

"Oh Natsu I'm so happy you're alive! I feel like I can finally smile again! You have no idea how I've felt these past few days!" She cried as she buried her face in his neck. It felt so warm. She finally smiled after what felt like an eternity as she lost herself in the moment. She silently prayed that this moment would last forever.

"I love you Natsu. Never scare me like that again.." She said into his neck.

"I love you too Luce. I'll always find a way back to you. No matter what." He replied. He took her hand in his, put the other on top of her head and touched his forehead to hers. Afterwards, they got up and enjoyed the festival. And upon hearing the safe return of their most powerful dragon slayer, Fairy Tail, as well as Magnolia as a whole, rejoiced.

"You know, Lucy," Natsu said as they walked hand in hand. "That scarf looks good on you." Natsu gave her a classic eye squinting smile as they headed for home.


	2. Chapter 2

Snow fell on another cold, cloudless winter day as the rosy haired fire dragon slayer, Natsu Dragneel, and his beautiful blonde Celestial Spirit mage girlfriend, Lucy Heartfilia, walked hand in hand through the city. It was a beautiful day in the town of Magnolia in the land of Fiore as the Sun shone brightly upon everything. People passed by greeting the couple. Mirajane Strauss, an S-Class mage of Fairy Tail and the guild's chef, had been waiting for them to get together ever since Lucy had joined Natsu's team. This couple had been together ever since the Midsummer Festival when Lucy had realized Natsu loved her and that she in turn loved him. Both of them confessed their love to each other and entered into the relationship everyone had been waiting for. Months later, Lucy still couldn't help but stare at her boyfriend. His rosy hair, his amazing smile, his unwavering loyalty to his friends and his guild, not to mention his unbreakable will, all of these things were just a little bit of what she loved about him. She sighed and pulled his scarf closer around her. She was the only one that he ever trusted with it since it was given to him by his adoptive father, Igneel, the king of fire dragons.

"Hey Luce, what do you want to do today?" Natsu asked as they got closer to the guild hall.

"Hm.."She replied as she thought. She didn't really have much to do. Then again, she could always use the rent money. "Let's go on a job! I could use the rent money plus I need clothes for the Christmas Festival coming up soon." She had been so excited about the Christmas Festival ever since she had heard about it. Even though she had been in Magnolia for around a year, she had missed last year's festival. She had heard that it's always magical, even in a world of wizards. Even though the town of Magnolia was a Festival loving town and hardly even needed an excuse to throw one, the Christmas Festival was always a highly anticipated one.

"But you look good in anything." He replied as he laughed and pulled her closer. He loved how she never failed to blush at these simple comments of his.

"Whatever." She just laughed and rolled her eyes. She really did love how he always made these small remarks about how nice she looks, smells, or what he thought of her. Just another thing that she loved about him. She lightly punched his shoulder at which he laughed.

"Oww what was that for?" He asked acting as though it hurt. In truth, she really could pack a punch. He had earned more than a few blows from her over the past year from all the times she had found him sleeping in her bed when she got home or sometimes when he said something generally dumb about her.

"Nothing. I just felt like it." She said laughing as she escaped his hold and ran ahead of him to the guild.

"Hey where you going?"Natsu shouted after her.

"Race you!" She shouted back sticking her tongue out at Natsu and laughing all the way.

"You're on!" He shouted. He couldn't help but absolutely love this side of her. The fun loving, playful, cute side of her that she rarely let out except when she was really excited about something or just feeling absolutely amazing that day. She was so cute when she acted like this. Natsu ran and was gaining on her fast. They both busted through the large oak wood doors and fell onto the floor in a heap laughing until they choked.

Lucy ran and got a job from the board and slapped it on the table in front of Mira.

"This one! We're gonna do this one!" Lucy said with a look of excitement and determination ablaze in her eyes. The job was simple. All they had to do was rid a town of wild Vulcans who had wandered into the town limits and had begun terrorizing all the villagers.

"Okay then." Mira said as she stamped the seal of approval on the on the piece of paper.

"Come on Natsu! We gotta hurry! The Christmas Festival is only a few days away!" She grabbed his hand and rushed out the door. Natsu knew she was weird, but sometimes she acted just plain crazy. They ran back to their apartments to get their things packed and then met at the train station. By the time they had gotten to their destination, Natsu was already vowing that he would never ride a train again and noticed night was already falling. They decided to check into a hotel and start in the morning.

"Natsu!" Lucy shouted at the sleeping fire mage. "It's time to wake up! Come on! We gotta get this mission done!"

"I'm up I'm up!" Natsu said groggily as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and kipped up, dressed in his normal clothes. They headed outside and started searching the town for the Vulcans that were pillaging the local food stores.

"I found one!" Lucy spotted an oversized Vulcan in the middle of eating a fruit stand. It suddenly looked over at the duo, mango juice still dripping from the corner of its mouth.

"Hey big guy!" Natsu called as he approached the large Vulcan. "I don't suppose you'll tell us where your friends are or why you're here?"

"Hahahaha! Don't make me laugh, you tiny child! What, have you come to save this town from we, the Vulcans? HA! Oh and what's this?" The oversized Vulcan scoffed before he noticed Lucy standing there. "And who might you be, other small child?"

"I'm a mage of Fairy Tail! Lucy Hearfilia, Celestial Spirit Mage and daughter of Layla Heartfilia!" Lucy stood and shouted this response proudly with a gleam in her eye. Natsu looked surprised, but why should he be? He had been around her since day one. He had spent nearly all his time with her ever since she joined Fairy Tail and his team. She was a proud person, as stubborn as she was beautiful and powerful too. She was the only Celestial Spirit Mage in existence to ever call forth the Celestial Spirit King, King of the Celestial Spirit World, and perhaps the only mage to ever open 10 Golden Zodiac Sprit gates simultaneously. The look in her eyes made Natsu all fired up seeing her boasting of her guild, lineage, and powers like this. Lucy lifted her hand up to where the back of it was showing. She displayed her guild mark with pride.

"That's right you fat jerk! And I'm Natsu Dragneel, also a Fairy Tail mage, I'm a Fire Dragon Slayer, Son of Igneel, King of Fire Dragons! And we are gonna take you and your whole group down for wrecking this place and causing panic in the town!" Natsu shouted with the same amount of pride. He jumped high up into the air, did a front flip, and cloaked his foot in flames as fire issued forth as a thruster from the front of his foot, causing him to perform a pinwheel attack to the top of the ogre-like Vulcan's head sending it crashing to the ground. It rose to its feet and started gobbling down more food.

"Wha-?" Both Natsu and Lucy knew that super kick should have taken it out. Vulcans were tough yeah, but they shouldn't be able to take a hit like this guy just did.

"The more I eat the stronger I become!" The now gluttonous Vulcan proclaimed, eating the entire fruit stand, cart and all.

"You just ate the cart!" Lucy protested wondering why she was even arguing with this Vulcan. She had been through so many weird things in all the time she had been part of Fairy Tail that this really shouldn't even surprise her. She had fought Vulcans several times either way. "That's it!" She shouted, taking out one of her Golden Zodiac Keys. "Gate of the Bull, I open thee! Taurus!" She summoned her second most powerful Zodiac Spirits, Taurus, with incredible strength and an axe that had magical earth-type properties. " Taurus, get him!" She commanded pointing at the Vulcan.

"Anything for you Lucy! Let's go!" He shouted as he jumped into the air and brought his mighty axe crashing down onto the Vulcan. The Vulcan caught the axe blade with his bare hand and threw Taurus to the ground back in front of Lucy.

"I'm sorry Princess. I wasn't strong enough." Taurus apologized about to return to the spirit world.

"Yo Taurus!" Natus shouted running over to Taurus. "This guy is tough but I have a plan." Natsu grinned a devilish grin as he told them the plan.

"Hey what are you doing over there? Are you whispering something?" The large ogre asked straining to hear what was being said. Natsu jumped into Taurus' hand and was tossed up. Taurus swung his mighty axe like a bat as Natsu pushed off of it with his feet, sending him flying through the air at the speed of sound.

"FIRE DRAGON'S SONIC FLAMING SWORD HORN!" Natsu bellowed as he flaming head-butted the behemoth in the solar plexus. "But that's not all!" He jumped into the air again and brought both of his flaming fists down on his enemy's head. "Crushing Fang of the Fire Dragon!" He then upper cutted using his fiery feet. "Flaming Talon of the Fire Dragon!" He sent his foe into the air. Natsu took a giant breath. "Roar of the Fire Dragon!" Incredible fire rocketed out of his mouth and burned the Vulcan to a crisp. "How's that for a combo?" Natsu laughed as he walked back to the others. The Vulcan started to get up again. Lucy clenched both of her fists, gritted her teeth, and a fire raged inside of her eyes. This look was one of pure fury.

"TAURUS! Launch me!" Lucy shouted and went flying through the air. Lucy's fist connected squarely with the Vulcan's face sending it tumbling backwards a great distance. When the dust had settled, the Vulcan was once and for all completely defeated. Lucy turned back to Natsu for a reaction and saw that his jaw was on the ground. She smiled and chuckled to herself.

"Geez Luce. We should have thrown you first." Natsu said in disbelief looking over at the still unconscious Vulcan. The Vulcan started to hack and cough something up. What he coughed up seemed to be a small crystal ball.

"It's a lacrima!" Lucy observed. Lacrima could do all sorts of things. Including give this recently skinny Vulcan the strength he had.

"Huh. I wonder what it was doing in his stomach." Natsu wondered. He thought about Laxus and how he had gotten his second generation dragon slayer powers from having a Lightning Dragon Slayer magic lacrima implanted in him in the past. Except this wasn't implanted in him.

"I bet someone must have left this lacrima behind when the Vulcans started busting up the town and then this guy mistakenly swallowed it whole thinking it was some kind of fruit. Haha! Who mistakes a lacrima ball for fruit?" Natsu laughed hysterically.

"Haha yeah. Hey we need to get the rest of these guys taken care of and send them back to the woods." Lucy reminded him. They set off beating every last one of the Vulcans back into the woods. This went on for the rest of the day. By the time they were done, it was night time so they headed back to the hotel.

"Man. Some day huh Lucy?" Natsu yawned after they had gotten their showers and were about to go to sleep. He fell back onto his bed and just stared up at the ceiling.

"Yeah. That one guy was really powerful. I mean did you see him grab Taurus' axe with his bare hand and then _throw_ him? That was crazy!" She responded. She fell back into her own bed as well, exhausted from the day. She smiled. Just another day in the life of a Fairy Tail mage. She chuckled. Compared to everything that she had been through, all the kidnappings, all the missions, all the adventures she had had with Natsu, all the times she had helped save Fiore from certain doom, today was nothing. What she really wanted to do now, was go to the Christmas Festival with Natsu, give him his present she had made for him, and share their first kiss under the mistletoe. She knew that it was almost unheard of, to be in a relationship for half a year and still not even have ever kissed him. She sighed.

"Whatcha thinking about Luce?" Natsu asked, noticing something was bothering her.

"Oh nothing. Just thinking about all the adventures we've had and how today was probably child's play compared to all of the times we've saved the world, fought ridiculously strong enemies, and come out on top even against impossible odds. I mean, you, Natsu, you fight so hard. You escaped Nul, the oblivion spell, twice even after being hit with it. You escaped the heart of a robot dragon, you defeated Zero, and you saved me from the Clock of Infinity. It's just incredible. Even now, after having known you for so long, I find it amazing that you are that powerful." She still found herself in awe of Natsu's incredible power.

"Well you know it's all thanks to you right?" He replied smiling. Lucy sat up and looked at Natsu quizzically.

"Huh?" She asked.

"It's true. Without you, who knows where I'd be? I'd probably be busting up a town right now in a fit of rage. The only reason that I have become so much more mellow is you, Lucy. I mean, whenever I think about punching Gray in the face, I think to myself, Lucy probably wouldn't like that. And as much as he annoys me, I don't most of the time." He said crossing his arms behind his head.

"Natsu.." She had started to blush brightly in the now dark room. She knew he loved her but she had never quite realized the effect she had on him.

"And the reason I fight so hard, is for you. All those people that wanted to destroy the world, kill everyone, or destroy Fairy Tail, whenever we faced an enemy who wanted to steal our future away, as much as I fought for everybody's futures, I fought even harder for yours. I made a promise. I would protect your future no matter what. I wouldn't let anyone take your future from you." He said. Then he smiled one of those classic Natsu Dragneel smiles that could melt a heart of stone. Lucy walked over, leaned down and kissed his cheek.

"I love you Natsu." She whispered. Natsu was surprised at this at first as she had never actually kissed him anywhere before but then he smiled again.

"I love you to Lucy." He replied. They both went to sleep after that.

The next morning, Lucy awoke to Natsu shaking her trying to rouse her.

"Hey Luce, come on I want to show you something." Natsu said tossing her her long white heavy jacket and clothes.

"Huh? What is it?" She asked rubbing the sleep from her eyes and getting dressed.

"Come on hurry up we're gonna miss it!" He said rushing her out the door and outside. Natsu rushed her out to the edge of the hill and sat in the snow with her. He put his arm around her to keep her warm.

"Natsu what are we-"

"Shh..Just wait for it." He said putting his finger over her lips and pointing to the East.

And just as he did, the most beautiful sunrise that either of them had ever seen had come up over the horizon. Lucy was at a loss for words at this extraordinary sight. Natsu squeezed her closer to him smiling.

"N-"She turned her head towards Natsu while unable to take her eyes off the beautiful sunrise and was about to say something but Natsu had interrupted her with the most unexpected thing. He had captured her lips with his. He pulled her close and held her face in his hands as he kissed her there on the hill, silhouetted by the glorious sunrise. After her brain started working again, she kissed him back and wrapped her arms around him. This day was going to be perfect. They stared into each others' eyes and just sat there in each other's arms until the sun had climbed over the horizon. Lucy was still blushing even after they had gotten up, gathered their luggage, and gotten back on the train. This day was going to be absolutely spectacular. On the train ride home, Natsu laid his head in Lucy's lap and let her run her fingers through his hair to help with his motion sickness. He was asleep again before long. She smiled down at his peaceful face. He looked so cute when he slept unlike when he was on a rampage during a mission or picking a fight with Gray destroying the guild hall. Again. She couldn't wait to give him the present she had picked out for him. She hoped that he would like it. They arrived to the train station back in Magnolia and headed home to unpack and then to the client's house to receive their reward. The Christmas Festival was tomorrow and she couldn't wait! She walked through the streets thinking about that morning with Natsu. She had had her first kiss with him while watching a perfect sunrise. Her cheeks turned a little pink just thinking about it. She smiled and chuckled to herself. It was all because of him that she was in Fairy Tail to begin with. If it hadn't been for him, she would have been sold on the market after that fake Fairy Tail mage had captured her. Her life was absolutely perfect right now. She was part of her dream guild, she had so many friends, was following in her mother's footsteps as a powerful Celestial Spirit mage and she had just had her first kiss with the boy she loved. Everything was perfect. She felt giddy just thinking about it. She sighed. What did she ever do to deserve this kind of life? This perfect of a life. She had many friends, many keys, all of which treated her as a dear friend, she was part of the strongest guild in all of Fiore and she was loved by all of them, and she was best friends and more with Natsu Dragneel, the most powerful mage of this generation. She smiled as she walked along the edge of the walkway beside the river out in front of her apartment building. The fishermen who always seemed to be on the river at the exact time she was passing by told her to be careful as always. She waved at them and gave them a smile before she went up to her apartment. She wrote a letter to her mother and then started writing in her book. She was going to use today and how she felt today as material for her story. Night had fallen and the day had ended as she finished writing another chapter of her story. She stretched her arms and yawned wide. It was about time to go to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a big day after all. She got a bath and got dressed for bed. She looked over at the neatly wrapped present on her desk and smiled.

"Natsu's gonna love it." She said to herself.

"Love what Lucy?" Natsu said from a squatting position in Lucy's bedroom window.

"Wah! Natsu! I guess I really shouldn't be surprised..You never have used the door." She said as she walked over to her bed and sat down on it next to Natsu.

"Why would I?" Natsu laughed. "There's a perfectly good window right there." He said pointing his thumb at the window. Lucy just shook her head. As amazing as Natsu was, he could be a real moron sometimes.

"I can't wait for tomorrow Natsu." Lucy said as she propped herself up on her hands.

"Why? Is it because of what's in that box?" Natsu asked her moving his hand over onto hers. He smiled playfully at her.

"It's a secret." She got up removing her hand from his and crossed her arms. "You'll just have to wait and see for yourself." She stuck her tongue out at him and smiled playfully back at him letting out a laugh. "Well. I'm gonna turn in. Goodnight Natsu." She said as she kissed him goodnight and smiled.

"Goodnight Luce" Natsu said holding her in his arms. Even in pajamas she was beautiful. How did he ever manage to make a beautiful smart girl like her fall for a destructive idiot like him? He started laughing as Lucy stepped back looking at him amused.

"What's so funny?" She asked. Knowing him, he probably just got a joke from a few days ago.

"Nothing. Just thinking about how lucky I am. Goodnight Lucy!" He said as he climbed onto the window sill. He stopped before jumping through the window and turned to look back at Lucy. "I really am lucky to have you Lucy. I love you." He said in a low voice and then gave her his trademark smile before jumping through the window and returning home.

"No. I'm lucky to have you Natsu." Lucy whispered. She grabbed her covers around her and fell back onto her pillow. Tomorrow was going to be amazing. She smiled at this thought and dreamed of yet another perfect day in the land of Fiore.

The sunlight pouring through the window and onto Lucy's face woke her to the start of an amazing day. She got up and got ready for her first ever Christmas Festival. She grabbed the present she had gotten Natsu and left to meet up with Natsu at the guild. She opened the doors and could not believe her eyes. Everywhere there were Christmas decorations, Christmas trees with ornaments, and the smell of cinnamon hung on the air. Over at their usual table, she spotted Natsu, Gray, and Juvia.

"Hey Lucy!" Everyone greeted her in unison. She sat down by Natsu.

"Hey guys! How is everybody? Are you ready for the Festival today?" She asked excitedly.

"Sure am!" Natsu and Gray said in unison. They glared at each other and butted heads.

"Don't copy me Ice Princess!" Natsu said.

"You copied me, Flame Brain!" Gray retorted.

"Ice Head!"

"Flame Breath!"

"Gray your clothes.." Lucy said. Gray's stripping habit was once again evident as he had lost his shirt sometime between the beginning of the argument and now. This was the curse of being taught by Ur, one of the most powerful Ice Make mages Gray knew.

"How'd that happen?!" He shouted looking around for his shirt. Juvia blushed but decided not to say anything at this point.

"Dang it! I gotta go get me another shirt!" He yelled as he ran out the doors with Juvia following close behind.

"I wonder if Juvia is gonna get him some clothes for Christmas?" Lucy wondered aloud.

"I doubt it would make a difference really. He always seems to lose his clothes at some point." Natsu chuckled.

"Listen up young ones!" Master Makarov shouted from atop the stage. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Today is the annual Christmas Festival! It starts tonight at 6! It Is one of the biggest festivals of this town!" He crossed his arms. "Now I want you all to behave yourselves when you go." He said seriously. He closed his eyes with a serious expression on his face. He suddenly burst out laughing as the entire guild hall filled with laughter. As Makarov tried to compose himself, he said

"That was a good one." He wiped a tear of laughter from his eye as he held his aching ribs. "My

children! Tonight, go out there and have fun! Cut up, have a good time, just don't destroy anything. Natsu, I'm talking to you!" He shouted. "After all, we are Fairy Tail!" Makarov yelled with pride as he stuck his finger up in the air, making the Fairy Tail hand gesture.

"Fairy Tail!" Everyone yelled doing the same.

Lucy and Natsu walked to the festival and when they got there, Lucy couldn't believe what she was seeing. White powdery snow had blanketed the entire place, so many colorful lights everywhere she looked, beautiful decorations on all the trees and everything else in the park, so much beauty and joy had filled the atmosphere. People were singing and eating food while others drank apple cider and soft drinks. Lucy could find no words. It was all that she had imagined and more. Even though she had learned to expect the unexpected, being a mage of Fairy Tail, she still was overwhelmed at the sight before her.

"Natsu, it's so beautiful!" Lucy breathed.

"Yeah" He replied drawing out the word. He leaned over and whispered in her ear. "But not as beautiful as you." She turned to look at him and blinked.

"I don't know Natsu." She dropped her gaze. "This place is spectacular." She said.

"Ah you sell yourself short. Come on!" Natsu yelled and took Lucy by the hand running into the park. They sang, danced, partied, and had an apple cider drinking contest. Oddly enough, Lucy won.

"I win!" Lucy cheered as Natsu fell to the floor. Lucy slammed her wooden mug on the table and everyone around her cheered. They sat on a bench for a while after that letting Natsu get over his stomach ache. Natsu had rested his hand in Lucy's lap like he did when he was motion sick so that Lucy could run her hand through his unkempt rosy hair. After a while of doing that, Lucy took out the present she had for Natsu from her bag.

"Hey Natsu, I want you to look at something." She said pulling him up to see.

"What's this?" He asked.

"Merry Christmas Natsu!" Lucy said as he ripped open the colorfully wrapped box. Out of the cardboard he pulled out a wide metal bracelet with the words 'Natsu and Lucy' written on it.

"Lucy I love it!" He shouted in excitement and hugged her before trying it on. He pulled out a small box from his inside vest pocket.

"Here's yours. I didn't have time to wrap it." He said scratching the back of his head. She slowly opened it up and saw inside was a heart-shaped silver locket. On the outside, the front said 'The Princess' and on the back, 'The Dragon'. On the inside, the left side had a picture of Lucy, and on the right, Natsu. Lucy put it around her neck.

"There's more to it than just those two pictures. It's magical." He said as he opened up the locket. He placed his finger on the side with his picture and concentrated. It disappeared and in its place, a picture of Lucy appeared. "If you place your finger on one side and think about someone really hard, then you can put their picture on that side. Its magic will never run out. You can even do group photos like the guild. So now you can see a picture of whoever you want to anytime you want. I thought you might like it so…"He trailed off. Lucy put her finger on one side and concentrated hard. The picture disappeared and in its place, a picture of Layla Heartfilia, Lucy's mother, and her appeared. Lucy's eyes welled up. She hadn't seen her mother in many years. She hugged Natsu tightly and clutched the pendant tightly in one hand.

"Thank you so much Natsu. You really are something else." She whispered her arms around his neck. Natsu returned the hug.

"Merry Christmas Luce." He smiled as he warmed her up a little bit. He stood up and pulled away from the hug looking Lucy in her big beautiful blue eyes. "Come on. Let's go dance." He said as he smiled at her and led the way to the dance area. When they got there, a slow song had begun to play. Natsu pulled Lucy close to him and put his hands on her hips and she put her arms around his neck. They rocked and they swayed as Lucy rested her head against Natsu's chest as they danced. They had become the center of the mass of dancing couples now. Towards the end of the final slow song, Happy hovered above them holding mistletoe. The couple noticed this and stared into each others' eyes. Natsu gave her a sweet smile and rested his forehead against hers. He continued to stare into her starry eyes for a little while longer. Then, they both tilted their heads and kissed each other. The song ended and fireworks went off all around the park, shooting bright bursts of every color imaginable into the night sky. Lucy rested her head back on Natsu as the fireworks continued to explode. Today was the best day ever.


	3. Chapter 3

The Adventures of Natsu and Lucy

Chapter 3

Taking the Leap

It had been two years since Natsu and Lucy had become a couple and much longer since they had become friends. It was early spring and the two were on a mission in a nearby town working a security job for a jeweler. Lately, the local bandits had been committing a string of thefts from the other local jewelers and since this particular jeweler has some particularly expensive and rare items, the owner wanted some extra protection. For once, Lucy wasn't doing this for the rent or the extra money. She had something else in mind this time.

"Okay Natsu. We are in a very expensive jewelry store." Lucy said. She stuck her finger out at him. "No breaking things!" Natsu backed up with a sheepish grin and put his hands up in defense.

"Easy Luce. You don't have to tell me twice. I don't intend on breaking anything but the bandits' bones." He replied. He thought about what the owner had told them when they had taken the job.

"If you do this for me I'll let you have any one item from my personal collection of jewelry. I'm a collector you know. That will be your payment." He had said. Natsu knew what he wanted. He had known for a long time now which was why he had been going on so many missions as of late. Needing money, he was working every single job he could find and doing all of them by himself. He was only in town for the jobs that were local and to get his next job from the guild's request board. Lucy was happy that he had asked her to go with him this time but she was also worried about how incredibly hard he was working and whether or not the towns he went to were still standing. Night was falling on the town and the store was closing up for the night.

"Hey, we should get ready for when those bandits show up. This place is the only one left that hasn't been hit yet." Lucy said as she took her position behind the counter with her Etoulle Whip and key to the Gate of the Lion, Loke, ready. Natsu wrapped his scarf around his head and went into ninja mode as he climbed up into the rafters above the door to lie in wait. After what felt like hours, the bandits finally showed up. They picked the lock and scurried inside. Before they could even make it five steps, Natsu dropped down on top of them crushing two of them. He stood up facing the other three.

"What you're doing is breaking and entering. The only breaking and entering that's gonna be done here is me breaking you, and you entering a world of regret!" He shouted as he engulfed his fists in flames. Lucy jumped the counter and cracked her whip at the three remaining conscious evildoers.

"That's right. Your days of stealing valuables are over!" Lucy and Natsu shouted in unison. They punched the two lackeys through the still open door and left them lying on the sidewalk unconscious as well.

"Woah Lucy you took that guy out in one punch!" Natsu said surprised.

"What'd you think I've been doing all this time? Just sitting around? I've been getting stronger just as you have!" Lucy replied with a fire in her eyes. She was all fired up.

"I knew you were getting stronger just as you always have been since you first joined the guild. I just never knew you were getting so strong. Anyways." He replied turning to the bandit leader who was trying to slip away with a diamond ring he had somehow managed to swipe.

"And where do you think you're going?" Lucy asked rhetorically, grabbing the leader's arm with her whip causing him to shriek in pain and drop the ring. She yanked the whip back and then punched his lights out with a solid left to the jaw.

"Remind me to never pick a fight with you." Natsu laughed. "Poor guy never stood a chance. Come on let's get these guys to the authorities." He saw the ring and picked it up. "This would look good on Lucy…" He muttered to himself before he registered what he had just said aloud.

"What'd you say Natsu?" Lucy asked.

"N-Nothing!" Natsu panicked as he tossed the ring behind him. She couldn't know what he was planning. Not yet.

"You're weird." Lucy said shaking her head.

"Hey that's my line!" Natsu replied slightly irritated but completely recomposed. Lucy slipped her hand into Natsu's and walked towards the door.

"Come on, weirdo. We gotta get these guys to the authorities. Then we can finally go home. I'm sleepy." Lucy yawned. They took them to the authorities and left to get some sleep at a local motel. The next morning, they went to the jewelry stop and collected their reward.

"Thank you both so much for protecting my shop. It really means a lot to me. Now then, for your payment." The owner said as he pulled out a box full of neatly organized and very expensive looking pieces of jewelry. Lucy rummaged through it until she found an exquisite necklace that she liked. It was a silver heart studded with diamonds on a silver chain.

"Look Natsu!" Lucy squealed showing him the beautiful necklace with a smile that could put the night sky to shame. "It's so beautiful! I think I'm going to get this one."

"It looks good on you but then again anything would." Natsu replied with a cheesy smile. His face turned serious as he turned his gaze to the store owner. He walked over and lead him away with his hand on the store owner's shoulder. "I need to talk to you for a second Mr. Jeweler." Natsu said.

"Natsu?" Lucy asked noticing his odd behavior. He'd been like this for a few weeks now. Ever since he started working those extra jobs. Yeah he always liked to work a lot of jobs, but he was practically never around anymore. Lucy looked over to where the other two were talking and saw the jeweler's eyes widen and a gleeful smile cover his face.

"Yes sir yes sir yes sir!" He exclaimed. "I can do that for you my good man! I have exactly the thing you are looking for, the likes of which none have ever seen! It is the rarest in existence! You, sir, shall not be disappointed!" He shook Natsu's hand emphatically practically jumping up and down in excitement. "I shall personally deliver it to you on the date we agreed upon since I have to go get it from my personal cache."

"Thanks!" Natsu said smiling and shaking the man's hand. They both walked back over to Lucy.

"Thank you both once again for all that you have done for me and this town!" The jeweler said. He looked at Lucy and started getting teary eyed. He clasped his hands together in front of him and sniffled before scurrying off back to his duties.

"Um, what was that all about?" Lucy asked, a confused look on her face as she looked at Natsu. Natsu shifted his gaze away from her and scratched the back of his neck He sucked in a long breath and said "Uh….Yeah….No I can't tell you that." Lucy tilted her head quizzically.

"Well can you at least tell me what you got for your reward?" She asked.

"Yeah no I can't tell you that either. Listen Lucy." He said putting his hands on her shoulders and giving her a smile. "You'll find out soon enough. So don't worry about it okay?"

"Alright." Lucy puffed out her cheeks.

"Hahaha you're cute when you do that." Natsu laughed as he took both his hands and pressed against Lucy's inflated cheeks forcing the air out of her mouth and blushing from the compliment. She tried to hold in a smile but just couldn't help herself. That's what she liked about Natsu anyways. Even when he made her irritated, he always found a way to make her laugh afterwards.

"You idiot…" She sighed. "Come on. Let's go home." She took his hand and they left for Magnolia. On the train, Natsu, motion sick as always, rested his head on Lucy's lap as she ran her fingers through his hair soothingly and he drifted off to sleep. Lucy couldn't help but think back to a time when they did this before. It had been a year and a half ago just after she and Natsu had shared their first kiss, silhouetted by the rising sun on top of a hill. She smiled at the memory of this thinking, Natsu may be a blockhead, but once he sets his mind to it, he always figures out a solution in his own unique way. Just one more thing she loved about him. As she sat there running her fingers through her sleeping boyfriend's hair, she couldn't help but smile. She leaned down and kissed his cheek softly thinking about all the adventures they had had and all the ones that they were going to have.

One train ride later, Natsu jumped off the train with their luggage.

"I'm alive!" He shouted. "You know, Luce, as bad as motion sickness is, if you did that to me every time we got in a vehicle, I wouldn't mind it at all." He said giving Lucy a smirk. Lucy simply shook her head and chuckled to herself.

"Natsu, you….you're…" She couldn't seem to find the words to describe him.

"Powerful, charming, handsome, hot?" Natsu finished for her looking self-satisfied. Lucy did a mock expression of mulling this over with her finger on her chin as she cocked her head and looked up and to the right.

"Hm. Interesting description but…definitely, possibly, eh, and not in the way you think, Salamander." Now it was her turn to smirk. She loved to tease her precious friend like this. Not only was it fun but he was cute whenever he puffed out his cheeks in mock offense.

"Well, I personally think that I am charming. I mean I somehow convinced you to be my girlfriend right? I mean that must count for something doesn't it?" Natsu replied putting his hands behind his head. Lucy just rolled her eyes.

"Come on. Let's get home. I am so ready to take a bubble bath in my own bathroom instead of in a hotel." Lucy said slipping her arm through Natsu's and headed for the apartment complex that Lucy lived in. When they got there, Natsu helped Lucy unpack, hugged her goodbye, and left for his own house. When he got to his house, Happy was waiting for him with some raw fish for Natsu to cook.

"Natsuuu!" Happy yelled, flying into his best friend's arms and sat on top of his head. "How'd the job go Natsu?" He asked.

"Oh it went great! Nothing got broken except the bad guys ha ha!" He laughed as he scratched Happy behind the ears where he loved to be scratched.

"How much money did you get from this one?" Happy asked.

"Oh. Uh. Well, you see..our reward this job wasn't money. Our client said he'd give us any one item from his personal collection if we protected his store. Lucy got a necklace and I got…well. You'll find out the same time she does. Trust me, it's worth the wait Happy." Natsu replied ruffling Happy's fur. They went inside and unpacked and then started to season the fish Happy had caught for grilling. After they had feasted on the fish that Natsu expertly seasoned and cooked, Natsu had an uneasy look about him.

"What's wrong Natsu?" His best friend asked him. Happy had noticed Natsu had been acting strange ever since he had gotten back from the trip and was starting to get worried about him.

"Oh it's nothing Happy. I was just thinking about something. I made plans for something huge. Even so, I've never been a very good planner. And this surprise is something that MUST NOT go wrong." He had a serious expression on his face. "But then again there's no reason to worry. If everything goes according to plan, everything's gonna be just fine!" He said as he stood up with a cheerful smile. If everything went according to plan and the man at the jeweler pulled through on his promise to deliver. He thought again to Lucy and how much they loved each other. He had already decided long ago that he was going to take the leap. He wouldn't settle for anyone except his dear Lucy. She was his best friend besides Happy and they had been through so much together. It had been two whole years since they had become a couple and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he wanted her to be his wife. He loved everything about her. Her long, flowing blonde hair, her pretty face, her stubbornness, her rock solid determination, her fiery temper, her intellect, her vanilla scent, the way they would go back and forth teasing each other through wit, the way she was always there for him, the way she didn't let the past define her, she was her own person. He loved all the little things about her. The sound of her voice, her soft skin, and even though he was a fire dragon slayer, he loved how warm she felt whenever she hugged him. She was sweet, honest, kind, she made him feel calm, good about himself, and happy all without even trying. All of these things and more were the reasons that he loved her. Why she ever decided to be his girlfriend, he might never know. But just having her with him was enough for him. He smiled at these thoughts and decided to go pay Lucy a visit before he went to the guild.

"Happy! Let's go talk to Lucy." Natsu said excitedly.

"Aye sir!" Happy replied with his catchphrase. They both traveled to the apartment complex Lucy stayed at and Natsu jumped to the second story window. Lucy was sitting at her desk writing a book when Natsu arrived.

"Yo Lucy!" He said. If she hadn't been so use to it by now, she would have been startled and probably would have knocked him from his precarious perch. She set her pen down and stood to greet Natsu and Happy.

"Happy! Natsu! What are you two doing here?" She asked as Happy flew into her arms. She knew his favorite scratching spot as well.

"We came to see you before we went to the guild!" Happy said happily and purred whenever Lucy scratched him behind the ears.

"That and I had a question to ask you Luce." Natsu said shuffling his feet and looking slightly nervous.

"What's that?" Lucy asked him slightly puzzled by his nervous behavior.

"What are you doing Friday? I want to take you out on a picnic somewhere." He said.

"Oh I'm not doing anything. What's the occasion?" She asked.

"That, Lucy, is a surprise." He said with a Dragneel smile. This surprise was going to be the best surprise that she had ever gotten.

"Ohh sounds fun!" Happy cried excitedly.

"Well I can't wait. I'll pick out something nice and wear my new necklace!" Lucy beamed.

"It's a date! I'm serious Lucy, you are going to really love this." Natsu smiled sweetly and Lucy smiled back.

"You llllike her!" Happy teased rolling the l in the word.

"Are you still saying that?" Lucy asked rolling her eyes. Happy seemed to do this every time Natsu and Lucy showed each other affection in any way.

"I'm gonna go give Carla a fish. See you at the guild Natsu and Lucy!" He flew through the window and towards the guild.

"Come on Natsu, let's go meet everybody." Lucy said with a smile. She took his hand and walked to the guild hall with him. When they got there, they met all of their friends and talked about everything that had been going on lately. Suddenly, their former client, the jeweler, came through the door asking for Natsu.  
"Hang on Luce, I'll be right back." Natsu said before walking over to the man. "How can I help you?" He asked.

"My boy!" The man said with a worried expression on his face. "They've taken it! They've taken it all!" He exclaimed with panic in his voice. He was about to break down on the spot and Natsu noticed tears in his eyes.

"Easy, slow down sir. Who took what?" Natsu asked placing a hand on the shorter man's shoulder. He lowered his voice to a whisper.

"The gang of thieves you and your lady friend took out the other day when they tried to rob my store. The ones that had been robbing the entire town! They stole my entire secret cache of rare jewels when I went to go fetch your ring. They broke out of prison and followed me to my secret cache to steal it as payback. I tried to fight them off and reclaim my prized possessions and especially yours, but they were simply too powerful. They beat me and left me for dead. My assistant showed up soon after and found me lying there and took me to seek medical attention. But that's not the point! Young wizard, I need you to go reclaim my possessions, your ring, and personally give those hooligans a good thrashing! I'll even reward you for it with Jewel." He said.

"That won't be necessary." Natsu replied. "I'll take care of everything. This is personal." He slammed a fiery fist into his open palm. He walked back over to Lucy who was looking at him questioningly.

"What was that all about Natsu?" She asked with a worried expression when she saw his serious face.

"Lucy, I gotta go take care of something. I'll be back in time to pick you up for our date. That gives me…" He had to count on his fingers. "A day and a half? Yeah. I'll be back by then. I gotta go get something from the next town over." His expression suddenly became cheerful. "Don't you worry about a thing. I'll be back in time for our date and it will be the best one you've ever had!" He gave her a wink and a smile.

"O-Okay." Lucy said. She suddenly gave him a look. "Don't destroy the town!" She said laughing. Natsu rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"No promises." He replied. "Just gotta go get your surprise and get back." He said with a sweet smile. Lucy got up from her seat and hugged Natsu.

"Don't take too long okay? I love you. I'll be waiting!" Lucy said with a big smile. She loved surprises. She loved them all the more when they were from her beloved Natsu.

"I love you too Luce. And don't worry. I'll be back to pick you up at lunch. We are gonna be heading out of town. See you then! Happy! Let's go!" He shouted as he left to go pound some skulls.

"Aye sir!" The flying blue cat shouted in reply as they walked out the door and headed to the train station. When they got to their destination, Natsu jumped out of the car and onto the platform fired up now that he was feeling alive again.

"Alright Happy. The man said the jerks who stole his stuff and Lucy's surprise had their base in a nearby cave just outside the town limits. Let's go get 'em! I'm all fired up!" Natsu shouted as he ran to the edge of town. Happy flew around the perimeter searching for the cave and soon enough, he led Natsu to it. As they strolled up to the entrance of the hideout, Natsu got an idea and smiled mischievously.

"Hey Happy watch this." He said as he took a deep breath. "HEY JERKS! COME OUT HERE! IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GET YOUR BUTTS KICKED!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. Before he knew it, he was surrounded by more than fifty thieves with swords, maces, ropes with weights at the end, or spears. "Okay which one of you idiots stole the rarest ring in the world? Speak up now. I'm gonna beat you all to a pulp anyways." Natsu said looking around for anyone important looking. A very muscular looking man approached Natsu wearing a very unique looking ring.

"Oh you mean this?" He asked casually showing it on his finger and pretending to admire it. I stole this from an old geezer who has a nice shop in town. That loser. Didn't even bother to bring someone to protect him while he went to his little stash of goods. Wait a second. You're the one who sent a few of my crew to prison! Wasn't there a little girl with you?" He asked tensing up with the rest of the crew, preparing to attack.

"Yeah that's right you bunch of jerks. Me and Lucy sent your guys to jail. They were way out of their league when they tried to rob a shop protected by Fairy Tail!" Natsu said raising a flaming fist. The thieves' boss gritted his teeth and lunged at Natsu. Natsu grabbed his wrist before it contacted with his face. "I'll take that thank you." He said plucking the ring from his fingers. He tossed it up to Happy who was circling overhead. The mass of thieves started mumbling and murmuring amongst themselves in confusion and fear at way the pink haired mage from Fairy Tail had just stolen back their biggest prize ever like it was no big deal. He then grabbed the boss by the face with a flaming hand resulting in him screaming in agony and clawing at Natsu's hand to no avail. "Now that that's out of the way, I have something to say to all you criminals. Hey! Listen up!" He was clearly not getting their undivided attention. He let out a huff and squinted his eyes. "All of you around me murmuring and shuffling about not paying attention, if you could just stand still and shut up because I AM TALKING!" He slammed his hostage's face into the ground creating a small crater around his head. Silence fell on the hushed mass of thugs, all eyes on the crazy wizard who had just one hit ko'd their leader, the strongest of them all. "That's better! Now then. Here's how it's gonna go. All of you are going to attack me. You can fight me one on one, or all 100 of you can swarm me. I won't use magic so don't worry about getting burned. I'm going to beat you all to a pulp and then I'm taking your butts to jail after you give all your loot back! But before we begin, let me just say this. I'm all fired up!" He said this last part with a devilish look in his eyes. Someone in the back yelled out.

"He's only one person! We can take him!" And thus began the charge. The first one charged Natsu head on with a spear. Natsu sidestepped it and grabbed it midways. He pulled the spear up along with its wielder and tossed them both behind him causing him to crash into a bunch of his comrades. Another two rushed him from either side. He deftly stepped backwards and grabbed their heads before grabbing them by the helmet and plunging their faces into the dirt. A rope with a weight attached to it flew right in front of his face but he quickly grabbed it wrapping it around his wrist and threw the user into more oncoming attackers. His breathing room was getting less and less but he wasn't worried at all. A sword wielding thief had gotten behind him and had his sword raised to strike but Natsu leaned back and grabbed him by the throat and tossed him like a ragdoll. A baker's dozen rushed from all sides. Natsu did a perfect leg sweep knocking them all to the ground and then threw each of them into oncoming enemies. He flipped over a mace user grabbing him by the shoulders in a reverse grip mid flip and crushed the guy in front of the spot where he landed with him. Natsu broke another's knee and delivered a swift and perfectly connected uppercut to the jaw. He jumped as two more came from both in front and behind. He kicked the one behind and superman punched the one in front simultaneously. He delivered blow after blow like this for what seemed like hours. He took a spear from the ground, planted it into the ground vertically and used it to spin himself around with his feet out knocking nine more to the ground. He uppercut one, turned around and two fisted punched another in the gut sending him flying back, roundhouse kicked the next, threw the three after that, ducked a sword and threw him by the arm, broke a spear over a skull, and swung another around and around by the feet knocking fifteen more to the ground. There were only a few remaining now. Natsu was rushed by a mace user. He grabbed the mace user's wrist until he dropped his weapon and then punched his lights out using the mace user's own fist. He then gut punched the next one so hard he was sent several feet into the air where Natsu front flip kicked him straight down into the remaining four. The battle ended leaving Natsu winded, not very bruised, and feeling like a complete and total champion.

"What's wrong? That all you losers can throw at me? Haha! I just took on like a hundred or more without even using any magic or weapons! Happy, please tell me you were keeping count." He said as he sat down to catch his breath.

"Aye sir! You fought one hundred and fifty!" He shouted from a nearby log having just watched the entire battle from above.

"Holy crap. One hundred and fifty? It's crazy how pathetic these guys are compared to the usual saving the world stuff. I mean, compared to those guys with the Infinity Clock, Grimoire Heart, Master Hades, and Tartaros, these guys are sissies! Seriously. I just took out one hundred and fifty of these guys without using magic or weapons. And they all rushed me at once!" He laughed loud as he fell backwards laying on the ground. It was getting late in the day and he knew he needed to get all this loot back to the townspeople but he needed to get back with the ring.

"Natsu, what's this ring for?" Happy asked walking over to Natsu.

"Oh, that's for Lucy. I'm gonna propose to her Friday on our date." He replied.

"You llllliiike her!" Happy teased flying around in a circle.

"Well of course I like her! I love her. And I want her to be my wife." He said rolling his eyes at Happy's antics. "The most important thing though, you CANNOT tell her! Okay? Happy, I'm asking you as your best friend. Do NOT let her find out about this."

"Aye sir! You can count on me Natsu!" Happy answered gleefully. They tied up all of the thieves and trapped them in the cave. Happy went to go get the town guards who came with a large number of reinforcements who then took the thieves away along with all the stolen property.

"Alright that takes care of that then. Let's get back to Magnolia." Natsu said as soon as they had finished up. They walked to the train station and boarded the night train to their home town. Natsu slept the entire way dreaming of the next day when he proposed to his beloved Lucy.

"Natsu, wake up! You're gonna get left behind!" Happy yelled trying to wake a sleeping Natsu. Natsu bolted upright still clutching the ring Happy gave back to him. He jumped up and bolted through the train door right before it started to leave. They both tiredly walked across Magnolia past Lucy's apartment on the way to their house. Natsu hopped into the second story window of Lucy's bedroom. He sat there for a few minutes watching Lucy sleep. He silently walked over to where she was sleeping and kissed her lightly so as to not wake her. Natsu could barely contain his excitement and also his nervousness at the possibilities of tomorrow's adventure. He went to his house and collapsed on his bed. Happy landed on his head and they slept until morning. Natsu woke up and got ready for this, the most important day of his life. Today was the day he was going to ask Lucy Heartfilia to be his wife. He grabbed the ring from his dresser and headed out the door. Happy had already flown to the guild to meet Carla and Lily for their day off. Natsu strolled down the street with a spring in his step towards the guild to grab a quick lunch before he picked Lucy up to go on their date. After he was finished, he walked to Lucy's apartment building and saw her walk outside. He stopped in his tracks. Even though she was wearing something appropriate for a spring picnic, she still looked absolutely stunning. She was wearing a white dress with blue trim, white frilly cuffs around the hands and at the bottom of it, and yellow delta patterns across it and some tan sandals.

"Everything okay Natsu?" Lucy asked with a slight smirk, noticing Natsu staring at her for the past twenty seconds. "I know I'm pretty, but there's no need to stare." She teased.

"Y-Yeah. I've just never seen you wear that before. You look amazing." Natsu breathed as he forced his brain to work again. It was amazing that even though he had known her for years and had been in a relationship with her for two, she could still stop him in his tracks without even trying.

"You really think so?" She asked looking around at herself while spinning the dress around admiring it. "I bought this yesterday while you were gone. You said you had a surprise so I thought I would look nice for whatever it is you have planned."

"Yeah! You look absolutely amazing Luce." Natsu replied still staring. "So you ready to go? I can't wait!" He said excitedly.

"Yeah. Let's go." She said smiling.


End file.
